Chapter 8: LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE. How to Build Your Own Home Swimming Pool or Spa
If you follow the advice in this book, you'll be able
to avoid most of the problems in this chapter.
But here are some long-term maintenance issues that you should hope
never to see, and what you can do about them.
As we touched on briefly in the first chapter, pools
are subject to stress from the surrounding earth. To some extent, your pool basin resists this
stress by floating on the existing groundwater within the backyard
excavation. This is especially true with
fiberglass pools, which are essentially nothing more than boat hulls with drains
attached.
Ordinarily, the water in the pool weighs the pool basin
down enough to counteract this buoyancy.
But changes in the ground water, evaporation of the water in the pool,
or the need to drain the pool for some extended cleaning (something you shouldn't
do unless there's an extreme emergency) can lead to the pool basin actually
popping out of the ground.
In this situation, you have two options:
- Refill
the pool and hope for the best (not the ideal option)
- Bring
in a contractor. He'll have to
remove the pool basin and modify your existing pool excavation in order to
fit the basin as well as it did when the pool was freshly-dug.
While your pool basin is removed, you can of course
check it for any leaks, signs of other wear, or anything else that'll help take
the sting of paying for major repairs out of the way.
You can avoid this problem and the nightmares
associated with it first of all by following our advice in chapter 4 and not
trying to install your pool yourself.
It's also a good idea to keep the level of water in your pool high and
to make sure you maintain the water's pH balance to avoid any corrosion, which
can lead to leaks and faster erosion of the earth surrounding your pool.
It's not the title of a 1980s exploitation movie; it's
a serious problem for vinyl pool owners.
As we mentioned in our first chapter, vinyl pools are very vulnerable to
damage from sharp toys, kids, or general wear and tear. It's important to check your vinyl pool
coating at least once every year or two in order to make sure there aren't any
tears, cracks, or anything else that can lead to leaks and damage to the
surrounding ground water--or, equally horrifying, to the metal walls that
surround your vinyl pool.
It's not a good idea to drain your pool more often than
every few years for the reasons we talked about above: emptying your pool gives
the earth a substantial advantage over the water and can change the shape and
structural rigidity of your pool significantly.
But emptying the pool to check for vinyl tears is actually a good idea
in the long run if you're using a vinyl pool.
Walk across the inside of the pool and inspect every surface carefully
for any sign of tears.
Once you've done this, fill the pool up again slowly, a
foot of water at a time. Leave the pool
alone for an hour or so and see if the water level drops. (Don't wait longer than that or evaporation
will drain off too much water for you to make a clear judgment.) If it doesn't, continue filling the
pool. If you notice a significant drop
in the water level after an hour, stop filling the pool and inspect the area
closely for signs of air bubbles or other leaks. This is a good way to diagnose tears in your
vinyl covering without wasting too much time.
If you do find tears, don't try to patch them. Spend the extra few thousand dollars to get
the cover replaced. Otherwise, you'll
risk having to drain your pool more frequently in order to diagnose and patch
leaks--and remember, the more often your pool is empty, the more damage occurs
to its underlying construction. You
don't want to have to spend even more money to rebuild your entire pool; spend
a little bit more up front and make sure it's done right.
And again, remember: the situations in this chapter are
horror stories, worst-case scenarios. If
you follow the daily and weekly maintenance recommendations in this book
religiously, if you make sure that your pool is built right from the ground up,
and if you enjoy the pool responsibly with an eye to water quality and avoiding
leaks and damage, your pool will last you for years--and you'll have a piece of
that easy life that's the reason, after all, that we all wanted swimming pools
in the first place. Even if they are a
pain in the neck.
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